''Delamu'' () is a 2004

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

directed by Fifth Generation Chinese filmmaker,

Tian Zhuangzhuang Tian Zhuangzhuang (; born April 1952 in Beijing) is a Chinese film director, producer and actor. Tian was born to an influential actor and actress in China. Following a short stint in the military, Tian began his artistic career first as an am ...

. ''Delamu'' documents the people living in the

Nujiang River , ''Mae Nam Salawin'' ( , name_etymology = , image = Sweet_View_of_Salween_River_in_Tang_Yan_Township,_Shan_State,_Myanmar.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = Salween River in Shan State, Myanmar , map ...

Valley, along the

Tea Horse Road The Tea Horse Road or ''chamadao'' (), now generally referred to as the Ancient Tea Horse Road or ''chamagudao'' () was a network of caravan paths winding through the mountains of Sichuan, Yunnan and Tibet in Southwest China. This was also a tea t ...

, an ancient trade route between China's

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

province and

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

. The film was jointly produced by companies in the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It had its American premier at the 2004

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

. The title "Delamu" refers to the Tibetan word for "peaceful angel", and the name of one of the mules owned by a villager in the film.

Synopsis

Stretching across

, and into the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

, the heart of ''Delamu'' is the "Tea Horse Road" (). One of the oldest caravan routes in Asia, the film documents one such caravan as it transfers raw material to a modern construction site. As Tian travels with the caravan, he interviews people who have lived along the road for decades, including a priest who was thought to have disappeared during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

, a 104-year-old woman, and a mule driver who owns the titular Delamu.

Reception

Though quiet and a far cry from either the insulated ''

Springtime in a Small Town ''Springtime in a Small Town'' () is a 2002 Chinese film directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang. The film is a remake of director Fei Mu's 1948 film and its original screenwriter is Li Tianji (Chinese: 李天濟; pinyin: Lǐ Tiānjì), ''Spring in a Sma ...

'' or the epic ''

The Blue Kite ''The Blue Kite'' () is a 1993 drama film directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang. Though banned by the Chinese government upon its completion (along with a ten-year ban on filmmaking imposed on Tian), the film soon found a receptive international audienc ...

'', Tian's ''Delamu'' has nevertheless garnered both praise and some criticism. On the one hand it has been well received by critics in Asia. The inaugural Chinese Film Directors Association Awards bestowed its honor for best director to Tian for ''Delamu''. It has similarly been well received in the West. In its premier at Tribeca, ''Delamu's'' cinematography of the stunning landscape was praised by critics. On the other hand, many critics often cannot help but to compare the film to Tian's account of the Cultural Revolution, ''

'', often negatively. One notes the "travelogue sheen" as preventing real penetration into the subject matter. Another (admittedly a socialist critic) complained that ''Delamu'' despite its beauty, was a "National Geographic style travelogue

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

broke no new ground."

Notes

External links

* *
Interview
with

on ''Delamu'' {{Tian Zhuangzhuang Chinese documentary films 2004 films 2000s Mandarin-language films Films directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang 2004 documentary films